Dolce Vita

Okay so here I go again with eat, pray, love.

Elizabeth is truly getting into my psyche.....maybe there was a reason one of my ladies gave me this book to read.......pg.47 and already she is giving me fantasies of running off to Italy.

Here's the thing, considering my children are half Italian and are just today finishing Italian Summer school for the second year in a row, finishing off the sessions speaking a 2nd language in a production that could be taken on the road....I might add, (it's amazing what children are able to pick up in 2 hours a day for a month with recess and a snack snuck in), leaves me ashamed to say the only words I know in this beautiful language are well.......you know.....I'm sure someone could appreciate them....when taken into consideration that they would be said with great passion......that is the Italian way.....No? On that note I would like to share (thanks to Elizabeth's study and passion for the language), a little bit about the language of love and how it came to be as I learned through her words;

Here is why Italian is the most seductive language in the world:

While France, Portugal and Spain took their languages from their most prominent cities, Italy was different.....Italy did not become unified until 1861 and was still susceptible to being overpowered by local princes and other European powers. Parts of Italy were owned by France, parts by Spain, parts by the Church and some parts where even up for grabs to whomever could nab a fortress or palace. Elizabeth writes that "The Italian people, although mildly humiliated chose to be more cavalier to this domination," (kinda like a woman......, sorry)

The italian motto of the day was "Franzo o Spagna, purche se magna," translated
"France or Spain, as long as we eat."

Elizabeth continues to elegantly inform us that for centuries Italians spoke their own local dialect (as I am aware, a lot still do today). So here's what happened........ some Italian intellectuals decided that they must come up with a pure Italian language, especially in the written form that everyone could agree upon. Unprecendentedly they proceeded to do something that had never before been done in the history of Europe; they chose what they determined to be the most beautiful of all the local dialects and dubbed it Italian.......going back over 200 years to 14th century Florence to what has been dubbed the most beautiful dialect ever spoken in Italian, Dantean.....a language created by the great Florentine poet Dante Alighieri, who published a work callled Divine Comedy in 1321 which detailed the visionary progression through Hell, Purgatory and Heaven shocking the literate world when he did not write the work in Latin. Elizabeth continues to elegantly inform us that Dante felt that writing the work in Latin would have made the work corrupt by leaving it unaccesable to anyone other than the elite. So instead, Dante turned to the street (a man ahead of his time?), Dante picked up the real Florentine language as spoken by the residents. Residents such as Boccaccio the italian poet who's works included "On Famous Women" a collection of one hundred and six biographies(which I noted) was one of the first examples of literature devoted solely to women as well as Petrach an Italian scholar and poet who on April 6, 1327 (Good Friday) gave up his vocation as a priest after taking sight of a woman named Laura in the Church of Sainte-Claire d'avignon awakening in him a lasting passion for the already betrothed woman (we all know how that story goes......or do we?) Dante used this language to complete his work.

Now I know I can make a connnection; DIVINE comedies, works devoted solely to women and priests who turn from their vocation for a women named Laura, I mean come on........is Elizabeth or someone else......trying to teach me something........?

Getting back to it....Elizabeth teaches me more by informing me that Dante wrote his work in what he termed "il dolce stil nuovo", the "sweet new style", his writing was personally affected just like Shakespeare affected Elizabethan English. It is phenomenal to think that a small group of Italian intellectuals was able at that point in history to decide that Dante's Italian would be it's official language, as Elizabeth likens it, it was very much like a group of Oxford dons deciding everybody in England would take on the language of Shakespeare and speak pure Shakespearian from that day forward, somehow they actually did it!!! and hence, this is why the Italian, even of today is essentially Dantean.

Elizabeth continues to point out that no other European language was born from such artistic pedigree and no other language more perfectly expresses human emotions than Dantean's 14th century Florentine Italian (Oh, the things we learn....).

It was also interesting to realize that Dante's Divine Comedy was written in terza rima
(triple rhyme), a chain of rhymes which repeat themself three times every five lines
(I will need to look into the significance of the five line meaning, but I am fully aware of the
Divine number 3), giving the language what was termed "a cascading rhythm", which is still heard in Italy to this day.

In the last line of Dante's Divine comedy, in which he is faced with the vision of God, Dante writes that God is merely a blinding vision of glorious light, but that HE is, most of all,
l'amor che move il sole e l'atre stelle........."The love that moves the sun and the other stars." and so I have just figured out why Dante, his work and his lovely language have stirred such emotion and intrigue in me.....must find myself a copy of Dante's work and delve deep within.......

I am ending this rather long writing with thanks to Elizabeth and with the dream that one day
"il mio amore ed io" (my love and I) see.....already learning.......one day will wine and dine and take in the bountiful atmosphere of a country so willing to be cavalier enough to allow everyone to love and share in it's beauty, while asking so little in return except that we savour and enjoy in all life's pleasures....Here's to looking forward to dolce vita (the sweet life).....and I'm thinking since Elizabeth's passion for the language brought so much inspiration, maybe I should start taking Italian lessons and maybe that penchant I have for those words (Italian or otherwise) will be tamed by the sweet, flowing language of love......

Footnote: all this writing took place prior to the freezie incident which got those oh not so pretty words flowing from my lips, No...... these words did not come out in Italian but they were said with a mixture of passion and fury......just as the Europeans would have it......ahh........the fine balance of the moment........dolce vita to la vida loca (the crazy life).

To those of you whom I love and share my passion, in you God showed me

"l'amor che move il sole e l'atre stelle"

Namaste

Footnote-Sex In The City

This blog is in response to an email from a friend after she read my (as she put it - long email).

Here was her take; thanks to her and some other lovely ladies not afraid to speak their mind......

Feminism is the freedom to choose anything we want; sex, motherhood - kids, career, wife, friends, fashion, men, whatever!

Famous Quotes

Barbara Jordan:All my growth and development led me to believe that if you really do the right thing, and if you play by the rules, and if you've got good enough, solid judgment and common sense, that you're going to be able to do whatever you want to do with your life.

Bernadette Devlin:Yesterday I dared to struggle. Today I dare to win.

Elaine Heffner:Women do not have to sacrifice personhood if they are mothers. They do not have to sacrifice motherhood in order to be persons. Liberation was meant to expand women's opportunities, not to limit them. The self-esteem that has been found in new pursuits can also be found in mothering.

George Carlin:Here's all you have to know about men and women: women are crazy, men are stupid. And the main reason women are crazy is that men are stupid.


Mohandas K. Gandhi: Woman is the companion of man, gifted with equal mental capacity

Mohandas K. Gandhi:There is no occasion for women to consider themselves subordinate or inferior to men.

I'm tough, I'm ambitious, and I know exactly what I want. If that makes me a bitch, okay. ~Madonna Ciccone

You don't have to be anti-man to be pro-woman. ~Jane Galvin Lewis

The thing women have yet to learn is nobody gives you power. You just take it. ~Roseanne Barr

Nobody objects to a woman being a good writer or sculptor or geneticist if at the same time she manages to be a good wife, a good mother, good-looking, good-tempered, well-dressed,
well-groomed, and unaggressive. ~Marya Mannes

I ask no favors for my sex.... All I ask of our brethren is that they will take their feet from off our necks. ~Sarah Moore Grimké

There are very few jobs that actually require a penis or vagina. All other jobs should be open to everybody. ~Florynce Kennedy

Taught from infancy that beauty is woman's sceptre, the mind shapes itself to the body, and roaming round its gilt cage, only seeks to adorn its prison. ~Mary Wollstonecraft


There you go, everyone has their take on the subject. Feminism can be misconstrued when we speak our mind. I don't think I ever considered myself a feminist, except for that fact that I am feminine...I grew up in a time when they told us you can be whatever you want to be and yet at the same time raised on the story of Cinderella (you are no one until a man comes to take you away, make you his bride and give you a wonderful life) are these two sides of the story not conflicting, and yet...somehow, subtly I believe in a little of both, maybe that's why as a modern day women I struggle with both sides of the fence....it would be nice if gender no longer played such a role in my existence.....as much as the fact that we are all human beings with the right to give, receive and just be......So I don't want to burn my bra....mostly I need it.....nor do I wish to spend all my life scrubbing floors behind the scene.... I want to garner as much respect and equality for the fact of being a stay at home mom of 10 years, who made her children, her home and her family the most important aspect of her being as I do for moving forward and working to build a life as a dynamic entrepreneur, who wants the best of both worlds. I remember once saying it was not easy but also not impossible, so I dare to dream.....just like Cinderella with a little dash of Captain Cook floating around in my veins........

As for where I stand at this moment on issues feminist or otherwise; I just want to know why there is no such word as Manist?

Thank you Jo.......as a successful illustrator and work at home mother of 2 you alas, are one of the women who continue to inspire me to believe in the best of both worlds....even on those days when conflict of interests arise.........Namaste

eat pray love

eat..pray...love by Elizabeth Gilbert is a #1 New York Times Bestseller........For those of you staying away from the book due to it's commercialism, as myself I tend to do...I was totally surprised when only 10 pages in I had smiled....laughed out loud......held back tears...and yes.....then as my children would say looking on....waiting....mommies going to cry again....this is their favorite thing to watch......especially when we watch animated movies that always seem to get me right were it counts........and there you go.....only 10 pages in and just the thought of sharing such an intimate journey with another soul who has also been on her knees leaves me comforted, afraid and a little overwhelmed with where will I be at at the end of this book?.......
Liz went looking for her answers........and found some of them in Italy, India and Indonesia...........
I am still looking, listening, learning.....thank you Liz, in a world where it is so hard to find personal meaning and balance...it is not totally crazy to me that I should find a connection with another unknown to me soul who was unafraid to tell her story....Namaste

Sex In The City

So what does being in a car for 2 hours alone with a fashion magazine inspire in a woman's mind.....well here it goes.......In the dawn of time when Eve was shamed into sewing leaves to cover her assets, fashion came to be......so what is it's role in the ongoing journey of women's existence? Well one things for sure as divine, godly and beautiful as I am sure Eve was I am positive she did not step out in a potato sack.....so on that note, here is my take on fashion, Sex In The City and the ongoing evolution of women and the universe.

I have not seen the Sex in the City movie nor was I an original and avid fan of the show. I did catch the occasional re-run after my little ones started sleeping through the night and as my hormones kept me up late into the evening........my life did not resemble Carrie's or any of the other ladies characters, in that moment......but it did bring me back to the day's when I was only responsible for myself..........I found it encouraging and inspiring to see sexy, feminine, charismatic characters allowing themselves to delve into and flirt with their personal freedom and allowing themselves the same rights as men (we all know what I'm talking about) whether those choices turned out to be right or wrong.

Why is this of importance to me.......... equality = balance.

It appears that many men have children with a woman and their life is enriched and mainly(and I say mainly) it stays the same, in alot of cases (and I stress again) in alot of cases the woman takes on the majority of the daily responsibility for caring for dependants and in alot of cases this is even if she is also a contributor on the financial front. Women's lives are also enriched with the addition of children, although in alot of cases she is forced to put off or even sacrifice her career which can lead to her feeling a loss of freedom. As the children grow many of these women are then expected to become Wonderwoman, finding a job with a suitable enough income to justify going to work in the first place, finding an employer who is even willing to hire her over some younger counterpart, who just finished being fully educated and is willing to work for much less than she and who has no family issues that interfere with their on the job performance. This is when and where, I am happy to say women shine through, necessity is the mother of all invention and women become imaginiative, inventive and even bold enough to strike out on their own, not leaving their fate to chance, but take the bull by the horn and overcome against all odds. Having said that, there are those who then project that these women are taking away from their motherhood (selfishness) or from their feminine(turning feminine wisdom, strength and intuition into, well let's just not use it the Big "B" word.)

Having lived both sides of the spectrum, I know that having it all is hard (not completely impossible) but hard. My feeling though is that there are alot of misconceptions regarding what the SITC women and maybe even ourselves are trying to achieve......we are not trying overpower the masculine or become so free and independant as to change the rules of nature or for our own selfishness for that matter....we are actually trying to do our job to maintain the balance.....assist in helping in the growth, nourishment and enablement of society in furthering it's acceptance in the value of everyone's right to selfreliance. Women are working daily to balance the scales by maintaining our right to be the equal, opposing, feminine energy.

The universal law of Yin (female/dark/passive) and Yang (male/light/strong) is working constantly to maintain harmony and balance in the world, so.....what I am trying to say is........... if what is considered fashionable or even cheesy to some, helps us to move that much closer to the feminine goal, along with reminding us that taking things too seriously can lead to ........ inbalance, why not allow for slipping on a frilly dress for softness and a pair of gladiator heels and allowing ourselves to be free, bold and true to our own inner divine feminine spark. Let the trends blend with the tides and who knows maybe equality will be the trend we will push forward, bringing about radical changes in the universe, bringing a greater existance of peace, harmony and balance to all.

Maybe Carrie and the girls are making much more of a statement than we see on the surface. Women have long fought for, struggled for, used patience and yes even flirted in order to achieve equality.

As we expand our own boundaries and push forward working to acquire respect and equality of the feminine no matter what stage of life we are in....We find, we may not be represented by the gals from SITC, but what we are is a mix, a blend of all their and all our own most beautiful adornments, both externally and internally.

Women is what we are.......feminine beings ...so take out that drop dead gorgeous dress, slip that heel into a sexy slingback shoe, dab a spot of color on those already sparkling eyes and go out and save the world.....okay, nab that job, rock that date.. mostly be true to and never lose site of your feminine entity, for it is her purpose to maintain equality and balance in every way....it is the way of nature and the natural evolution of life...for us to strive to bring and maintain harmony and peace for all and we should celebrate and enjoy it.

Here's just a little tidbit for all you Mister Big's out there in the "Man's world"....the next time you see a beautiful, confident woman walk by and you are taken by the outside...look deeper, that women is a loving mother, compassionate lover, cherished friend and beneath the clothing, she is projecting her beauty, love and commitment in continuing to make the world go round.......and think of how it would be to live in this world without the other side, without the "the dark side of the moon", always light, no dark; No rest, no peace, no harmony, no balance...need I go on.......

And ladies, my hope is we will continue to strive for and partake in this beautiful quest for harmony, peace and balance, all the while continuing to cherish the "light", the spark that keeps the flame aglow for generations to come and if we get a sexy new dress or sparkly shoe along the way wear them with the universe in mind............

Enough said;...Thank you to the rain.....In Style magazine and SITC for inspiring me to maintain the quest for balance........Man..........if 2 hours in a car with a magazine can inspire all this rhetoric, imagine what can be achieved in a day, a week, a lifetime...........now I have to put on my track pants and do the laundry and the dishes.........Namaste

My date with Batman

Okay so this was a first, which I don't get many of these days.

Sharing space with a bat during meditation............we were nearing the the end of the evening's first class and looking to hit the mat for some relaxation, to focus in on the body, mind and spirit connection, when from out of nowhere (just like the comic books) along came Batman. Although I was told to stay low, I rose to get some assistance from the local Arena staff and the bat let me know in no uncertain terms that I still had issues with my fear of the creatures big and small......to my dismay the only way to try and get rid of the bat was to swat at him with a broom, this was distressing to all involved and was confusing to the yogis who were filing in to attend the next class........ as I continued to duck and run for cover I was inclined to let the broom dweller know that one of the laws of Yoga is non-harm to either the bat (or to humans -I was hoping this creature would take that into consideration and he did). After being tuckered out from being accosted he landed on the ceiling, we all decided it was better to pull the curtains and let him remain on the other side of the room while we began our evening practice. I quickly forgot his presence (not sure about the other yogis, but my aim is to help relax, release and let go....and that was what I set out to do.) Starting with some deep breathing, before we knew it we were immersed in our practice, by the time it came to relaxation/meditation I had all but forgotten the incident. It was a deeply moving meditation (for myself) I sank deeper and deeper into the process, letting go and finding myself not only giving the guided meditation but partaking in the whole process deeper than I had in my classes for a long time, this was not only about guiding others through the process this was about sharing in the process. As the session came to an end, I was surprised when the ladies informed me that our friend batman had been in our presence the entire time, weaving in and out and through and over all of us. I had not heard or noticed a thing, I can't say as much for the others. What I truly found astonishing was every one's calm and acceptance of the whole ordeal, I mean let's face it this is not Muskoka... I am thinking I should ask them to keep the bat and I can start billing the sessions as the Great Rural Retreat.

Now all this would seem just an unusual incident, except as we all know I am on my journey to enlightenment and just the day before had visited a place of knowledge to find clarity, direction, focus.... what I was shown was that I needed to deepen into listening to my own inner intuition, go on my own vibes, listen to my soul and let go off old ideas and perceptions that are holding me back from further growth. Letting go of long held beliefs or familiar behaviour patterns is never and easy task.......and on my drive to the class I specifically looked up and surrendered, admitting I needed help, some assistance, a sign...........Batman......

On my drive home I realized that this was somehow significant......I was compelled to look up the significance of Animal symbolism....here it goes.........

Bats symbolise: Death and Rebirth on a personal, spiritual level.
They are the guardians of the night, the cleaners, messengers, they represent happiness, longevity and good luck.
Shaman initiates undergo a ritual death in which they face their fears (did I say I was initially freaked) and are reborn without their old identities. Bat medicine teaches us to release fear and any patterns which no longer fit in with our pattern of growth. A new beginning, trusting one's instinct, the bat is powerful medicine.

He flew through and over all of us during meditation, who knew he was there to serve his purpose............Coincidence?.............for me it was just the sign that I had asked for and was looking for to keep me going.....to help me to believe that all the hard work, all the effort, all my questioning and delving, releasing and opening up, sacrificing is not in vain......and that I am on my right path.....allowing me to open up to letting go of fear and doubt and truly listen to my own inner voice..........the one that is telling me to express gratitude for small, seemingly insignificant events that can change everything in a moment......

I seek only to reveal my true self, which may or may not be the same tomorrow should I learn something new which changes me......

I feel honored by the presence of the bat and as always by the openess, compassion and wisdom of those whom with I share all my practices.

Namaste